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Polk Street is on the verge of being changed forever.
Polk Street is on the verge of being changed forever.
People for Polk is here to make sure those changes benefit actual Houstonians. We are community members from all over Houston who understand the value of Polk. We need your help!
Houston First, in coordination with the City of Houston, plan to close Polk Street between Chartres and Avenida de las America - the short segment adjacent to the George R. Brown Convention Center. Houston First wants to expand the GRB across Polk, which will cut off access for anybody driving, walking, biking, or using transit.
P4P is not opposed to the expansion of the GRB. However, we insist that it be done in a way that maximizes benefits to the residents and stakeholders of Houston. We strongly believe that preserving Polk for east-west mobility is critical for that goal and that this public street resource can be maintained while also expanding the convention center.
Please share the P4P flyer
flyer_long_3.5.25.pdfFrequently asked questions (click for the answer!)
Frequently asked questions (click for the answer!)
Isn't TxDOT planning to close Polk street anyway with the IH69/IH45 freeway project?
TxDOT has repeatedly said that they are not proposed to close Polk. They have design challenges to accommodate a direct bridge, but they are planning to mitigate that with convenient U-Turns on the future frontage roads. P4P thinks they can do even better, and we are continuing to work with them to reevaluate a bridge option. If the section of Polk is closed for the expansion of the GRB, a Polk bridge will never be possible.
Isn't the City proposing to convert Leeland to 2-way operations, and won't that be good enough?
P4P believe that converting Leeland to 2-way operations may be a good idea in addition to maintaining Polk Street. The fact is, east-west connectivity is so poor in this part of town that any additional connection possible is highly valuable. However, the connectivity provided by Leeland does not replace that provided by Polk, because Leeland crosses a busy rail line near Cullen whereas Polk has an underpass. Polk also extends far east to Wayside, whereas Leeland becomes Telephone and heads southeast. Finally, it's not clear that the Leeland bridge over IH69 currently is wide enough to even accommodate the conversion.
The biggest challenge, however, is the timing. How long will it take to convert Leeland Street? Will it happen before the Polk closure? We still don't know, but it seems unlikely.
Won't the full build-out of the GRB vision will build a beautiful park connection that will improve east-west connectivity?
Yes - the future GRB videos and pictures look nice, and the park connection, if built, will be a nice commodity. However, it will not provide vehicle connectivity, so if you are driving or riding a bus, or if you are EMT or a firefighter rushing to a disaster, then that connection will not serve you.
It also won’t happen any time soon. It will only be finished once the massive TxDOT NHHIP project is finished - and that won’t be until the late 2030s at best. Until that point, we will have lost the driving, emergency, walking, transit, and biking connections that Polk currently provides.
It is also worth noting: the future vision is not funded. There is no guarantee that it will actually ever happen. It is also not clear if there is any mechanism by which we can guarantee that a future administration 15-20 years from now will follow through on the promises of current officials.
It feels like there may be an expression for this. Maybe: trading a bird in hand. . .for a pie in the sky?
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